The present invention relates to a monofilament yarn as incorporated in cross-woven dryer fabrics for use as dryer fabrics, forming fabrics and press fabrics in paper making machines.
Dryer fabrics and the like as used in paper making machines are normally woven of polyester or other synthetic materials in a conventional shape or form. It is recognized in the art of weaving paper makers' dryer fabrics and other fabrics used in the paper making industry that the use of yarns having different cross sections can produce different results. Prior to the instant invention, many of the monofilament yarns as interwoven into dryer fabrics have been formed in a circular cross section. It is also recognized that certain monofilaments used in dryer fabrics and the like have been extruded in what is known as extruded flat warp weaving. In this latter technique, the warp yarns are formed of monofilaments with an essentially rectangular cross section, with the longer side parallel to and the shorter side perpendicular to the woven plane. These kinds of monofilaments are intended to produce a dryer fabric with a higher contact area and lower permeability than fabrics woven with yarns having a circular cross section. It is also known in the industry to use other cross sectional forms, such as oval yarns, in the weaving of paper makers' dryer fabrics.
Although the prior known weaving of paper makers' dryer fabrics produced fabrics that were acceptable for the most part for the purpose intended, the weaving of the monofilaments caused the cross sectional configuration thereof to be modified to some extent due to the forces that were created during the bending of the outer top edges of the monofilaments. As will be set forth hereinafter, the present invention relies on these forces that are created during weaving to produce an exceptionally smooth outer surface and improved stability over traditional yarn designs used in dryer fabrics.